I need some help. I just bought an open flatbed car hauler trailer.
Can some one tell me where the best place to strap it down is for the front and rear ? Pictures would help a ton, but if not a good description would also be very helpful. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I used the holes behind the motor in the K member for the front. On the rear there are some tabs that hang down in front of the wheels.

 

You can also get the wheel straps and strap them through the wheels.

--kC

 

I strap each wheel down with one ratchet strap right over the diameter of each tire. This method requires a ubolt behind each wheel in the load floor for the hook at strap's end to hook to. It also requires a wide ubolt (a bit wider than the strap you use) in the load bed on the other side of the tire for the strap to slide through and lastly another ubolt somewhere in line with this sliding wide ubolt to hook the rachet to. Rig the ubolts to drop down flush with the load floor so the tire can roll over the bolt without damage. I have around 10,000 miles on my car / trailer (5000# single axle trailer pulled behind a motorhome) combination without any problems.

 

I think this is the best way to do it if you have your own trailer. One way to make this more versitile is E track. It bolts or welds to the trailer deck and then the special tie downs lock in. This gives you the abilty to haul different wheel base cars or move the car forward/back to vary the load weight.

 

Anyone come up with other solutions in 6 years?

 

I go around the end of the lower control arms in the front and through the wheels in the back. Seems to work find.

 

I abhor tying a car down by the wheels or suspension.

In the front I route axle straps through the center hole in the lower control arms in a crossed X strap pattern such that the strap catches the pickup point tabs on the subframe rather than the arm/bushing itself. In the rear I route axle straps through the certerhole of the rear subframe just behind the diff, but your ability to do this is dependent on your rear exhaust design. I prefer to use axle straps with protective sleeves at the chassis points and strap to them because they will take the tiedown rubbing wear well and are easily replaced once they do eventually wear out.

The method Uloser mentions also is very good, especially for an open trailer where you have easy, open access from the sides. I only have front and rear access in my enclosed trailer so that method would be very difficult for me to use.


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I'm with TeamRX8.

 

hmmm kool thx for the input

 

Tying it down by the wheels is the best way since it doesn't introduce any stresses to the vehicle that it doesn't already experience under normal conditions.

Yes.



Failing that, this is the best way I've found:

 

isn't it not a wise idea to tie to any of the control arms, considering that you risk damaging them compared to tying down actual contact points to the ground. I am actually kinda surprised that was even recommended...

 

It's not the stresses so much as the time factor. On the track the stresses ebb and fade over short periods of time. That's not the same as continuously pulling the suspension in opposing directions for hours, days, weeks, months depending on how long the car ends up sitting on a trailer. So no, it is not the same thing. Not even close.

And using the tow hook points for tying down a vehicle is highly not recommended.



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If you look at how manufacturers transport their vehicles, it typically is strapping into t-hooks or j-hooks which are inserted into slots in the unibody...which allows the suspension to work in it normal range of motion with normal loads.

Where I run into problems with the idea of wheel tie down is when axle straps are used to simply loop through an open wheel design and then X'ed to the trailer tie downs. To me, this introduces all types of lateral load outside of design. The sling type wheel straps, which are tied down both fore and aft of each wheel are a different deal. Have to admit, my bias is from when I ran single seat formula cars.

 

If you tie it down by the wheels, it is under exactly ZERO stress until the trailer moves around.
It isn't tied in "opposing directions". It is tied almost straight down along the same vector as gravity.

The only stress is on the tires, which would be seeing about twice the static load of the car being parked.

I think you might be underestimating the extreme amount of loading that the suspension - the A-arms, associated bushings, ball-ends, hubs, bearings and tires - see in normal driving, let alone on the track. It is in the order of a score of tons.

Well, that is a good recommendation in that you would be loading the car down as if it was carrying 1000 pounds of passengers and luggage.

 

The one time I trailered my 8 I used T-hooks. Easy to use and the car stayed put.
If Mazda prefers to ship cars this way it is good enough for me...

ymmv.

 

The front control arms are pretty beefy and I've personally never run into any problems doing it this way on the RX-8 or the later model Miatas. But that's just me! Each to their own.

 

Since nobody has mentioned it (maybe for good reason) this is how I've always done it:

In the front, I run an axle strap through the lower a arm on each side and then strap to the trailer on the opposite front corner.

In the back, I run axle straps thru the opening in the rear subframe behind the diff and pull out to the corners of the trailer.

It does pull the rear down some (vertical loadwise) but the fronts are almost horizontal and with the cross patterns on both ends it still allows the car to move.

 

tying down via wheels is not the greatest idea - always had better results with things staying put, trailer bouncing around less, etc by factory tie down points or similar...

More that one way to skin a cat and in this case some ways even get the job done pretty decently - but there's always that personal prefrence thing depending on your tastes for each good method's upsides & downsides. I prefer to have the car body not move relative to the trailer (less cycles on the suspension, less trailer bouncing & better trailer control, easier imo to secure than going through the wheels, etc) and so long as you're not a ham-fisted moron you won't break anything on the car by using the chassis tie down points to do so.

 

Looking back now it appears that mark and I are using a similar process . . .

Read first, then post

 

Yeah, pretty much

MM, most aren't tying the wheels straight down. They are looping a strap through then with a ratchet strap to the d-rings at the trailer ends. A single rear tow point is fine as long as the trailer never jackknifes or otherwise has to perform an emergency maneuver. This is trailer logic 101. Nothing is ever a problem when everything goes right. The key is to consider and plan for what happens when it doesn't.

 

The wife has been looking at trailers to tow ours since the tracks are getting farther and farther away. Most look like a pain to get it on the trailer till we ran across this one.
The video is pretty slick on the workings of it.

http://kwikload.com/

 

^^ better check the weight ...

 

What about the weight?

It's load capacity is enough for an Rx8. I don't see the trailer's weight it's self though, if that's what you're referring to.

Hell, I still need a truck first.

 

I wasn't exactly sure either so here is both.
Empty Weight 16Ft, 1,750lbs, 18Ft 1,950lbs, 20Ft 2,150lbs
Load Capacity: 7,000 GVRW